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Our Global Leaders

"I want to be able to look my kids in the eye and tell them I did all I could to leave the world a better place."

Mark Tercek is president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy, the global conservation organization known for its intense focus on collaboration and getting things done for the benefit of people and nature. He is the author of the Washington Post bestselling book Nature’s Fortune: How Business and Society Thrive by Investing in Nature.

Growing up as a city kid in Cleveland, Mark was a late-bloomer to conservation. It was becoming a parent that sparked his passion for nature. “I want to be able to look my kids in the eye,” he says, “and tell them I did all I could to leave the world a better place.”

A former managing director and Partner for Goldman Sachs, where he spent 24 years, Mark brings deep business experience to his role leading the Conservancy, which he joined in 2008. He is a champion of the idea of natural capital — valuing nature for its own sake as well as for the services it provides for people, such as clean air, clean water and a stable climate.

"The Conservancy has been putting innovation to work for nature for 60+ years. Now it is time to push ourselves even further."

As The Nature Conservancy’s chief conservation officer, Brian McPeek oversees conservation, science, external affairs and development programs across more than 70 countries to solve some of the most pressing problems facing people and nature today.

Since his start as a field project director in Colorado, McPeek has contributed to numerous notable conservation achievements, including establishing Great Sand Dunes National Park, advancing a national “buffer lands” program with the U.S. Department of Defense, completing the Forever Costa Rica project, growing Conservancy fundraising nearly 50 percent and launching a $4 billion campaign—the largest in conservation’s history.

"The conservation movement has to do more to find solutions that incorporate environmental and societal needs into economic development decisions."

Justin Adams is the Global Managing Director for Lands at The Nature
Conservancy, where he leads a broad team of Conservancy staff operating
at the intersection of global development and environmental challenges,
including sustainable agriculture, forests and climate change, smart
infrastructure, and indigenous and communal conservation.

He
believes passionately that we have to find new models to balance
competing priorities for land including food security, sustainable
energy production and sustainable livelihoods, while also conserving and
restoring nature to deliver the critical ecosystem services on which
all life depends.

Giulio Boccaletti, Ph.D., is the Chief Strategy Officer and Global Managing Director for Water at The Nature Conservancy. Trained as a scientist, Giulio is an expert on environmental and economic sustainability. In his role as Chief Strategy Officer, Giulio works with other members of the Executive Team to develop the organization’s strategy and apply economic and scientific practice to our conservation agenda.

As Global Managing Director of Water, he leads the world’s largest team of freshwater scientists, policy experts, economists and on-the-ground conservation practitioners. Giulio and his team at the Conservancy are working to identify, test and deploy innovative, large-scale strategies that demonstrate how investments in nature will enable us to secure the water we need to prosper.

"If we’re going to see the ocean as limitless, we will destroy it. Humanity must choose whether we will be the greatest danger to the ocean, or its greatest hope."

Maria Damanaki is the Global Managing Director for Oceans at The Nature Conservancy. She leads a global team focused on transforming how the world manages its oceans, with a focus on investing in natural infrastructure, such as coral reefs and wetlands, to reduce climate risks and sustain ocean health; promoting sustainable fisheries management and legal fish trade; and managing and protecting ocean and coastal habitats in ways that continue to provide benefits to nature and people.

She believes that the only path to lasting, tangible results for a sustainable blue economy is collaboration across public, private and civil sectors – at both global and local levels – while always respecting the needs of both nature and people.

Pascal Mittermaier is the Global Managing Director for Cities at The Nature Conservancy. He leads a team at the Conservancy focused on transforming how the world’s growing cities harness nature’s power to build resilient, livable, thriving communities for millions of people.

By mid-century roughly three out of every four people will live in a city. Pascal believes the Conservancy is uniquely positioned to help city leaders and stakeholders lead the world on a more sustainable path that fully values and protects the natural resources cities need to thrive.

"We must celebrate the increasing leadership countries, companies and communities are making for our climate."

Glenn Prickett oversees international and U.S. government relations, corporate practices and sustainability efforts, and relationships with leading international institutions and non-governmental organizations for the Conservancy. He joined the Conservancy in January 2010 after two decades working on international environment and development policy.

Lynn Scarlett is the Co-Chief External Affairs Officer at The Nature Conservancy. In this role, she directs policy in the United States and the 35 countries in which the Conservancy operates with a focus on climate and nature- based solutions.

Climate change is one of the world’s most urgent challenges and an immediate risk to our communities, economies, and to our conservation mission. Lynn believes that practical, innovative solutions can create a prosperous, low-carbon future that is cleaner, healthier, and more secure for everyone and that nature-based solutions are an essential component of controlling carbon pollution and protecting against climate impacts.

Most recently, she was the Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Lynn also served at Interior as the Acting Secretary of the Interior in 2006.

"People are connected to nature in nearly everything we do and value."

Heather Tallis is
Global Managing Director, Lead Scientist for Strategy Innovation for The Nature Conservancy. In this role, she leads a Strategy Innovation Science Team that drives TNC science to unlock rapid, large-scale change at the interface of the environment, society and the economy. Tallis will explore new opportunities at the intersection of conservation and human well-being and help to expand the impact of TNC and conservation for both nature and people through new sector influence and strategy development.

Impact investing will be similarly transformative. This new approach to conservation can mobilize significant financial resources to tackle the biggest challenges of our time.

Marc oversees NatureVest, The Nature Conservancy’s impact investing division, which focuses on delivering measurable environmental outcomes as well as financial returns to investors. NatureVest fosters ways to invest in conservation by convening investors; developing and executing innovative financial transactions; and building an investment pipeline across multiple sectors, including agriculture, fisheries and environmental markets. Marc leads the twelve-person team that advances these activities.

Michelle 'Shelly' Lakly has been with The Nature Conservancy for over eight years and has served in the roles of State Director in Georgia and Florida, the Eastern Division Director for North America Region and now the role of Managing Director of the Saving Rivers Strategy.